Grants for Good 2025: Exploring local authority grant-making to the VCSE sector

The second edition of Grants for Good: Exploring local authority grant-making to the VCSE sector (2025) by the Directory of Social Change provides the clearest picture to date of the level of local authority grant-making to the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector in the UK. It includes: 

An overview of public services reform policy and effects on statutory grant-making; 
The total value and number of local authority grants; 
Trend analysis between 2021/22 and 2023/24; 
Breakdowns by population size and regions of the UK; 
Analysis of the effects of local authority financial distress on grant-making;
Data on legal challenges to local authority grant-making; 
Recommendations to improve practice.

About the report

This research will be of interest to local councillors and local government officials, especially in the context of designing or delivering services for the community or working with local charities, voluntary organisations, social enterprises and community groups. It should also be relevant to staff and volunteers from those organisations that receive local government funding or engage with local government about commissioning and provision of services. 

This research underpins the Grants for Good campaign, which aims to support and increase the use of public sector grants for the VCSE sector in commissioning and more generally. 

 “There has long been a need for clearer and better data about government spending on the VCSE sector, especially for local government and particularly for grant funding, which this research helps to redress. This second edition of DSC’s Grants for Good report provides an update to the first report plus additional analysis and findings. We hope this report and its recommendations will be read by commissioners and anyone in local government who works with local charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, to help improve and develop best practice.” –  Jay Kennedy, DSC Director of Policy and Research